The Sony Ericsson Xperia Playmissed its planned Apr. 1 launch date on O2 UK because of software issues found during testing, but now it seems these bugs have been successfully squished and the phone is almost ready to launch on O2's network. Posting on the carrier's official blog, Stuart Hibbard, O2's head of testing, said the arrival of fixed firmware from Sony Ericsson is an "important milestone" and that the Xperia Play is now "nearly ready for release".

No specific release date has been announced, but O2's product page for the Xperia Play has a link where prospective customers can sign up for updates on the phone's availability. [O2 Blog, Xperia Play on O2]